Forty nations, 800 athletes, 220 media, 400 volunteers, 34 events, 15 sports and 10 days of the best winter sports action ever seen outside of the Olympics - it's the greatest show on snow and it's 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games!

No other event has ever had the same calibre of athletes including Olympic medallists, X Games medallists, World Cup winners and World Championship medallists.

The event opens tomorrow, Friday 21 August with the Opening Ceremony festivities in Queenstown. The action starts on Saturday 22 August at The Remarkables with the freeski slopestyle and continues through the week with snowboarding, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, freeskiing curling, ice hockey, figure skating, winter triathlon and natural luge. The competition takes place throughout Otago from the coastal town of Dunedin, to the plains of the Maniototo to the towns of Queenstown and Lake Wanaka, high in the Southern Alps.

Highlights will include the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup Halfpipe on Wednesday 26 August and the Big Air Closing Ceremony on Sunday 30 August that will broadcast live on Sky TV with a grand finale of fireworks and spectacular aerials and a closing by New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key.

100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games will take place at Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, Cardrona Alpine Resort, Snow Farm, Naseby and Dunedin from 21-30 August 2009 and will feature disciplines of alpine skiing, free skiing, x-country skiing, snowboarding, curling, ice skating and adaptive snow sports as well as the demonstration sports of winter triathlon and natural luge.

For further information visit www.wintergamesnz.com